V For Vendetta Director Reveals His Thoughts On The Mask's Use By Activist Groups [Exclusive]

Before Paul Thomas Anderson's politically provocative "One Battle After Another," James McTeigue's "V for Vendetta" was easily the most ideologically radical film to come out of a major Hollywood studio. That both were made and released by Warner Bros. (albeit under different regimes) underscores current worries about how David Ellison, who is set to become the studio's new CEO via its potential merger with Paramount Skydance and is a good friend of Donald Trump, will influence the studio's output. It's far too early in the game to know for sure (the merger has yet to pass regulatory muster), but the notion that we might be losing a Hollywood risk-taker is cause for consternation.

If you're mad enough to protest this flagrant flouting of antitrust laws, perhaps you should make like the resistance in "V for Vendetta," don a Guy Fawkes mask, and blockade every single one of WB's gates. You'd be in league with many other protest groups (most notably, the anti-Scientology collective Anonymous) that have used the mask to shield their identity.

Should you do so, know that McTeigue completely supports your method of speaking out. In an interview with /Film's Ben Pearson (pegged to the film's 20th anniversary), the director stated that he is proud of how "V for Vendetta" has influenced the culture. It is a good thing in theory, but, as has been painfully driven home throughout the Trump administration's second term, masking also protects law enforcement that engages in violent, extrajudicial behavior.

Speaking to Pearson, James McTeigue said that "it's the most amazing thing" to have your film positively impact the culture, especially since, in his view, these people are correctly reading the message of "V for Vendetta." Per McTeigue:

"I think that it leads to the idea that people really understand the movie and what the mask can do, and that understanding is that 'I can protest without being arrested or vilified' and there's more power in 'we' than there is 'I.' I think that's a really good reading of the film. That's why the film's timeless, in a way, because people got the movie."

I used to live down the street from the Scientology Celebrity Centre and saw Anonymous gather in their Guy Fawkes mask. Though the mask gives off sinister vibes, at least they're trying to strike fear in a cult that has been accused of abuse and human trafficking. I can absolutely support that.

Unfortunately, masking one's identity has alternatively become an effective tactic for ICE, DHS and Border Patrol officers as they sweep through cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. to ostensibly arrest lawless illegal immigrants, but, by design, end up terrorizing peacefully diverse communities. Thus far, these officers have shot unarmed civilians for phantom violations and have eluded accountability because they were masked the whole time.

"V for Vendetta" holds up incredibly well in 2026, but masking has been appropriated by the very fascists the film opposes. It's obviously not the movie's fault (just as its not David Fincher's fault that "Fight Club" became a rallying cry for the thugs it decries), but it's happening, and it feels like there's no end to this horror in sight.